What's the most ridiculous TRA's argument you've ever heard?

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[–]ArthnoldManacatsaman🇬🇧🌳🟦 27 insightful - 1 fun27 insightful - 0 fun28 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

'Argument' isn't necessarily the right word, I don't think.

Their whole conception of what it means to be a trans person is rooted in the same unfalsifiable beliefs that drive most of organised religion. This essentially boils down to

I just know that [I'm actually a woman in a man's body / God exists]. I feel it.

And years of being told that subjective experience is off-limits to criticism or probing questions has lead to this belief being accepted unquestioningly.

[–]mvmlego 13 insightful - 1 fun13 insightful - 0 fun14 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I've noticed the similarities between organized religion (or at least the worst parts of it) and the TRA movement, and I think it can be used to our advantage, in some cases.

When my college was planning to review and modify its free speech policy a couple of years ago, I attended the student forum on it. There were a lot of TRAs who were upset that the new policy would still allow criticism of gender identity and related concepts (which of course they automatically classified as "hate speech").

They seemed to be gaining the upper hand in the discussion, so I spoke up and mentioned that a lot of religious people consider their religious beliefs to be just as crucial to their identity as trans people feel about their gender identity--and that nonetheless, we would rightfully consider it absurd and deeply authoritarian to forbid people from disputing the existence of God, regardless of what emotional despair or psychological stress such discussions could cause for the religious person.

I'm not sure how convincing that was to the students there, but it seemed to get through to some of the school administrators who were in attendance.